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...nothing here is promised, not one day... Lin-Manuel Miranda


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Mood:
a wee tad frustrated

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A bathroom is not wheelchair accessible if all it has is a grab bar. It's not fully accessible if it has a grab bar and a padded pipe under the sink. Or if it has a grab bar, padded pipe and lever hardware on the sink and door. That's a good start. How-fucking-ever,

If the soap dispenser requires two hands to use and is so out of the way that anyone sitting cannot reach it,

If your maintenance people move the trash can around any which way, putting it next to the toilet, say, or in front of the toilet,

If the towel dispenser requires two hands or is too high to reach,

If the door is so heavy that users require assistance getting into or out of the bathroom,

If the bathroom has multiple stalls, and the accessible stall is so cramped that most people cannot get a scooter or wheelchair inside, (and oh yeah, if that stall is not marked with a wheelchair symbol),

And most importantly if you have a bathroom that is so small, so cluttered that someone who needs help - be it using a walker, cane, crutches, wheelchair, scooter or simply needs assistance - has difficulty using said bathroom - hey, guess what?

Your bathroom is not accessible. Go on, try it. Grab a wheelchair (since the specific bathrooms I am currently talking about are in public spaces like hospitals as well as malls, you can probably find one). Don't cheat. Imagine you cannot walk but must transfer to the toilet seat. Imagine you are not especially strong, or have issues with your hands due to disability and cannot yank doorknobs and turn them. Imagine you cannot stand up, or if you can, you need help and so you lean on the sink, which moves rather badly when you do so), and spend a day using the bathrooms where you work. Don't cheat. Don't stand up to get leverage to open the door, but try to get in on your own, holding the door while using the scooter's controls, or getting your walker through the doorway. Don't cheat. Get back in your chair and then turn around and try to leave the stall, pulling the door toward you (or pushing, yes) while steering out into the hall or bathroom sink area, hoping no one is there waiting to "help" you.

Damn right it's been that kind of week.


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